Friday, December 15, 2017

What did Donald Trump do today?

He doubled down on an embarrassingly unqualified judicial nominee.

Yesterday, Trump's nominee for the federal district court in the District of Columbia, Matthew Petersen, had an exchange with the Senate Judiciary committee that quickly went viral. In it, Petersen--who has a law degree but has effectively never practiced law--was forced to admit his ignorance of basic legal terms and courtroom procedures.

Trump was apparently unable to let this embarrassment go unchallenged, and sent a spokesperson to defend Petersen. Hogan Gidley issued a statement arguing that Petersen was qualified because actual practicing lawyers worked for Petersen in his previous job. He added, "It is no surprise the President's opponents keep trying to distract from the record-setting success the President has had on judicial nominations."